A rambling train of thoughts about the universe and our micro solar system consisting of our dear Sun and other planets in a magnetic dance while we hurtle through space on the face of a rock and stare at flat screens where we attempt to connect while we detach.

I am sharing my latest projects and encourage you to try some of these.

Knight Salve originated with me writing a screenplay about a knight who is wounded and nursed to health by his future wife. The knight played by Glenn Hughes, his real life wife plays the healer woman to be his wife.

No I haven't written it yet, just ideas for the movie score...(meanwhile enjoy the you tube links :<)

Sorry, this one I posted this morning doesn't work in the US.

It is beautiful....

Now for Salve and Soap talk.

My first project Fred got me Kefir grains from CulturesForHealth.com I have been cultivating Kefir, mixing with yogurt for broad spectrum
probiotics. Then I got into making salve and soap.

Soap: Cultures For Health has
melt and pour soaps and molds. I made hemp oil soap with lavender essential oils And
goat's milk soap with relaxation essential oils. They also have a shampoo base
that I put lavender essential oils into. The cartoon describes the pain and
recovery through use of frankincense and myrrh. I believe the gold of biblical
times is honey.

By Katie HerzogEnvironmental and
First Nations groups are celebrating recently elected Canadian Prime Minister
Justin “Hair Model” Trudeau’s decision to ban crude oil tankers from British
Columbia’s northern coast.

The moratorium will stop progress on the $7
billion Northern Gateway pipeline, an unpopular project approved by former PM
Stephen Harper last year. It would have moved diluted bitumen ­ a particularly
nasty form of crude oil ­ from the tar sands of Alberta to the west coast of
B.C. for shipment east to China.

A ban would prevent hundreds of tankers each year from carrying diluted
bitumen extracted from Alberta’s oil sands and piped up to northern B.C. from
being shipped for export overseas.

“It will mean that Northern Gateway will never happen,” said Gerald Graham,
a Victoria consultant specializing in oil spills for more than 40 years.

He said it remains to be seen what activities other than projects involving
crude oil tankers will be permitted and which communities could be
affected.

“It’s one thing to say what can’t take place, but another to say what will
be allowed.”

Diluted bitumen from the tar sands is particularly
concerning to environmentalists. It’s just about the worst
oil on the planet in terms of
climate impact, and when spilled it makes one hell of a mess. As
Grist’s Heather Smith wrote last year, it is “something of a debutante,
oil-spill-wise: when over a million gallons of it spilled out of an Enbridge
pipeline and into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, spill response crews found that it
behaved differently than the oil spills they had been trained on ­ instead of
floating, it sank, and crawled blob-like along the river floor, eluding cleanup
like a B-movie monster.”

For now, at least, that monster is being kept
out of British Columbia’s northern boreal forests. Add that to the Keystone XL
rejection, and tar-sands oil production should be looking decidedly less
attractive to the fossil fuel industry these days.

The Department
of Public Service is trying to figure out how it can be a better public
advocate. After seeing them in action over the last three years, bending to
Vermont Gas’ will at every turn, we have some pretty clear ideas about how DPS
can better advocate for the people of Vermont, right?!? We need to make those
ideas known at the DPS hearing TOMORROW.

This is
not a pipeline protest event. It is, however, an opportunity to shine a
light on problems with the process that are so enormous that if
remedied we would probably have a different outcome on the pipeline. The
pipeline is the example that we’re all familiar with, but it’s
the process we’re trying to fix so that we can have fair and just
outcomes. And in the process we’re going to remind folks about that whole
pipeline controversy, because we keep showing up in the darnedest places, right?
Here’s how you can help:

1. Come to a
public hearing on Tuesday, Nov 17, held at the Shelburne Town Office (5420
Shelburne Road) 6:30-9 pm. It’s super important for you to be there, and if
you feel you can speak, all the better. Rsvp to me so I have a rough idea of
how many to expect. Some ideas of what to talk about are at the bottom of this
email.

Here are some ideas put together by Melanie to get you started on a comment
you might make for the hearing on Tuesday. Add your own points about how you
envision the office, perhaps taken from your own experience in well-functioning
bureaucracies — we need some new and creative ideas for an office that has
fallen behind the times!

The Public Advocate Office must be truly
independent!No matter where a Public Advocate Office is located
(e.g. within DPS, at the Attorney General's Office, in a stand-alone agency or
an independent nonprofit), the Office must be free from utility and political
influence. The budget of the Office needs to be protected, and employees of the
Office must be required to abide by a code of conduct and ethics that prohibits
ties to utilities and strict financial disclosure rules. They should also
benefit from whistleblower protections so that they feel safe to voice concerns
or report problems.

The Public Advocate Office should be
responsible for helping the public understand and participate in utility
cases. Instead of acting as a gatekeeper that keeps the
public out of the Section 248 process, the Public Advocate Office should be
required to produce plain-language materials that explain not only the Section
248 process but also their rights as ratepayers, landowners, and the public AND
the rate design and ratemaking process. Right now, it's nearly impossible
for ratepayers to understand or participate in decisions that will affect their
wallets, their health and safety, or the environment. Vermont needs a Public
Advocate Office that respects our need for understandable and accessible
information AND our right to participate in determining exactly what our
interests are with respect to a given project or policy.

All Vermonters should have an
equal right to assistance from a Public Advocate Office. Not all "public interests" are the same for all groups in any
society. If different groups (e.g. ratepayers, property owners, small
businesses) have differing interests, advocates should be assigned to represent
the interests of each group, and/or funding should be provided to individuals
and organizations, who want to intervene in the Section 248 process.

The Public Advocate Office should advocate for more
than just lower rates! It's a myth that ratepayers care only about
the cost of energy. Many ratepayers would be willing to pay a bit more for clean
energy. Vermonters want a Public Advocate Office willing to stand up to utility
pressure and advocate for our right not to pay for unnecessary fossil fuel
infrastructure. We want a Public Advocate Office that has the independence to
demand that all utility customers should have the right to opt out of paying for
dirty fossil fuel infrastructure!

The Public Advocate Office should be required to
share complaints and communications received from ratepayers and members of the
public with the Board and other parties during the course of Public Service
Board proceedings. Nearly 500 Vermont Gas ratepayers wrote to the
Public Advocate Office saying that they couldn't afford to pay for the increased
rates necessary to pay for the ballooning ANGP costs. DPS never presented or
even acknowledges these concerns during the technical hearings on the ANGP in
June. Instead, the Department supported VGS claims that current customers would
benefit from the project. This should never be allowed to happen
again!

Improving the structure and effectiveness of the
Public Advocate Office should start today - with a reasonable schedule for
accessible public hearings and a comment process that makes
sense! The way the Department is going about collecting public input
for this report is a perfect example of how poorly the Public Advocate Office
serves ratepayers and the public:

There are no public hearings being held in locations that are convenient for
residential natural gas ratepayers, who could face the largest rate increases
for energy infrastructure in the history of Vermont. Shelburne is still far from
Burlington and St. Albans.

There has been almost no advertising or public outreach about the hearings!

And, DPS hasn't even bothered to produced any written materials, a draft
report, or even a list of questions for the public but nevertheless wants the
public to offer comments on how the Public Advocate Office should be structured!
The average Vermonter isn't an expert of government organizational structure or
public advocate offices. Why hasn't DPS given us something to respond to in
public comments????

Until an effective and independent Public Advocate
Office can be established, the Vermont public deserves to have Independent
Counsel appointed for all large pending utility cases, including the Addison
Natural Gas Project! Regardless of when or whether steps are taken to
improve the structure and effectiveness of the Public Advocate Office,
ratepayers and the public deserve an effective public advocate to represent
them, now! Until something can be done to fix this problem, independent counsel
should be appointed to represent ratepayers and other members of the public in
all major utility cases, including the Addison Natural Gas Project. Currently,
the Board isn't required to appoint independent counsel when ratepayers, the
public, and the Governor or Department have differing interests, or when a
conflict of interest arises. Whether to appoint independent counsel is at the
discretion of the Board, and to date, the Board has pretty much never appointed
independent counsel no matter how obvious it is that the Administration's and
ratepayers' interests are at odds. This needs to change!

And these are AARP’s recommendations to improve the Department of Public
Service’s Advocate Office:

The public advocate office should be an independent
office that is removed from the political pressure to support utility
company projects and rate proposals.

The public advocate office should
be independently representing the interests of Vermont electric
and gas customers so that your utility bills are fair and
reasonable.

Public advocates for ratepayers should have
technical and legal expertise and should have strong track record for
independent action and advocacy. The ratepayer advocates should have
limited direct ties with the utilities.

A friend couldn't get our local health officer to state the pipeline is bad for the
health of our community. Armed with this info, folks near a compressor station
of any size might have a better chance.

Resolution
Opposing All New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Passes in Portland

Portland,
Oregon took a step toward combatting climate change on Thursday when its leaders
unanimously supported a resolution to actively oppose the local expansion of all
new fossil fuel storage and transport.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

**warning if none if this makes sense to you,that is quite beyond my ability to fix it. megCommentsWas trying to post all of my comments2 didn't make it so far of mine.I think because it has my blog post link.Well, here is the blog linkto the letter addison independent refused to publish:http://traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com/2010/04/halls-of-shame.html

Ah, you are Ms. Nomer using a new alias. You are awfully judgmental. Here is my original letter that this newspaper chose not to publish. You don't know me, Ms. What. Don't judge me. Take off your veil.http://traveloguefortheunivers...

Dear Say What. You may also be highly educated one, Ms. Nomer. What I wrote is from deep down in my soul. To be frank, I had to suck it up in 2007 when Monkton, Vermont put my property up for sale, this newspaper published it and I was never notified which is my Constitutional Right. They told my husband in a malicious timeline that that state couldn't care less about. The Statewide property tax system is crippling people like many of us. Consider what I write as good, bad, atrocious. Say What, you are insignificant to me. Yet you spike me with a nasty, Snark! I believe you are an educator.

Say Huh? Opinion is all mine. You disagree. You sound like Ms. Nomer. I Do reread and alas my editor had the week off leaf peeping. Or is it LeafPeeping? I have a dyslexic condition where, yes, I made a mistake. It is Bruce Cunningham of Hinesburg. Here is a link to the facts http://www.vermontadvocate.com...Say What, get off my case, please. Snarky? Sounds exactly like Ms. Nomer. Take the cape off. Play nice.

Odd facts to think on. Would Plato approve of philosophy taught to the masses when only this first article is available to cash strapped readers like myself and subsequent articles cost $$? I responded back when you wrote the Plato article. My property was up for sale 9 months past due taxes. The town only told my husband. It was wrong, mean, certainly Injust. This paper didn't publish my letter back then. I want Plato to be a woman, in 2015, and she finds out what the Town did to her. I hope she would do as I have, reign in my emotional angst, hate even. Then she would write her heart out. Then she would sit in her chair, body hurting from MS. She just cashed in some of her retirement to pay the property taxes. No vacation for disability retirement. Next April taxes will be due on the dispersement, we will pay the taxes. They won't catch me late again. They are doing another town plan, (it's required, you know). If they find some more worthy living creatures, they will try and downzone me. I am ready, pen in hand. Let's bring Plato and Socrates back as women, 2015 AD. And they don't have $6,000 to pay the revenue agents.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

the day mom left the material plane
i forced myself out to the backyard,
as if sunlight could wash away the smothering feeling.
mom was gone

then a black swallowtail fluttered in front of my face,
teasing me,
i have never seen one in vermont.
then it landed on a burdock in bloom,
mom was all i could think,
mom sent me a butterfly

last night i sat down to write the post for today
and Paris was heavy on my mind,
the horror of hateful people,
not knowing what more is next,
all i could offer was a prayer,
sending this visual prayer as i think again of mom.

thanks to jeff faria, mars patriot,for this link to great history of the foundationalpoetry of the beat generation. megsee how twitter, like vinyl, may leave a trail of breadcrumbs,so future generations may follow the signs,to understand us cave dwellers.now for a youtube link with guy forsyth and the asylum street spankersChildren of Jack, my favorite of Guy's repertoire of great music.meg

Friday, November 6, 2015

One thing led to another.
It didn't take long in the brief burst of cleaning my mailbox to find the Transforming article by Noetics
That led to me searching for The Eyes of the World,
one of my favorite Dead tunes,
Sure enough, a you tube labelled "best version" appeared very kindly,
and
Yes it is a fine version.
Jerry's fine finger work, Bruce Hornsby sitting in on piano,
the other guys as I remember them,
see if you think it all fits together,
or sit back in awe,
at Jerry, may he rest in peace.

NASA's New Horizons: A Heart from Pluto

Lake Champlain

the challenges of freedom

My words were simply, "I cannot comprehend this." when told an excuse that my absentee ballot hadn't been mailed because.....I lost the rest. I filled out the absentee ballot form. Finally I wrote to the town front porch forum. Here it is:

School Revote

MARY GERDT

I did not receive an absentee ballot for the recent revote of the school vote. Apparently none were sent? Or did you receive one and mine was omitted? I prefer to vote at home. I signed the paper for absentee ballots. The Secretary of state said it is up to me to enforce the election rules. It is up to me to ask the town clerk to explain, go to court if need be. No, my body cannot take any more of that. My vote was not counted. If you like that policy, carry on. Just don't presume to know all the reasons I do not want to vote out in public. I thought that is what absentee ballots were all about.

update 5.19.15 follow up post to front porch forum

Several issues back I inquired if others in Monkton did not receive absentee ballots for the town school budget re-vote. I got no response. I do not interpret that as apathy or a conspiracy against me, although I am sorely tempted to take the easy way out. It is stuck in my craw, the assistant town clerk (why did we need an assistant?) said we talked it over and it was too late to send the absentee ballots out. Now I will reiterate I do not have the energy to fight this town over not being able to vote on a budget that affects the taxation on our property. I will submit to the reader that if you tolerate this, it is a slippery slope. Oh, and fair warning: when you fill out the form from the Secretary of State of Vermont for absentee voting for the year, and send it to the Town clerk or assistant, don't expect that you will receive the ballots as requested. Then when you don't, guess "they" decided there wasn't enough time. My vote was never counted.

What if you could help tell the history of 1960's #NYC #GreenwichVillage? You can, See Richard...

Monkton Chronicles

Monkton Chronicles,

November 2016

Thanksgiving Week

It's been 7 months since I have put out an article about this town. Pipeline Fighters, Political Sparring, Health and Fatigue have dominated my summer. Now Summer and Fall are behind us. The first snow a gentle morning. A new America is forming, baby boomers aging, parties losing, party winning. Not worth crying about, little snowflakes, we all melt away in the end. We scraped up what silver we had to pay the taxman. Narrowly paid, avoiding being pinched by zero tolerance tax collectors. shortly after that our 11 year old pellet stove died. It was a good run. Fred and son installed our new stove. toasty warm. hopefully you are warm wherever you are. best wishes, meg

April 2016

4.30.16

I have neglected my lonely Chronicles, Times are tough in this idyllic state of chaos. Vermont, of course, is what I mean. Vermont and Vermonters, genuine and those who "identify as Vermonters" can take credit for the steady as he goes, In full command, Silver Warrior, Bernie Sanders. I predicted he will win the nomination. I still believe that. Locally the steadily advancing Northern front of the Canadian free for all Gaz pipeline. They are carving their way to the Tree that they killed, in fact, many hardwoods. They chipped them, all. Come on down and look. I don't know what the answer is. Addie could only stay up in that tree so long. We warriors for the planet feel we have been here before. And hope we may stop the madness that supports fracking in #Alberta. Town of Monkton, Vermont has a website if you care to peruse the gas pipeline stuff. It all makes me sick.

Spring is being her usual stubborn self in the North Country. The Sunlight has been marvelous. Code word: Sunlight = Arctic air...brr.

May will start a little warmer and badly needed rain. That will wash the pollen down, and start the greening...A Spring delight here. Brown to Green. All for now. Have a Wonderful May. meg

March 2016

3.18.16

It's been awhile since I have posted in the land of sparse news.

There was a "Quintessential Town Meeting" in Monkton, Vermont that I have once again boycotted. That's part of the plan, you know, to steer the town business the way of the chosen few. I gave up, quit, starvation of my political desires. Forget it. I can't. It's hard to explain all this. You may think I am being whiny, intolerant. ignorant...

No, I am frustrated. How can one person one vote by transferred to the mass in the school auditorium? If you're still confused, that, too is part of the plan. No wonder I haven't written updates in the Chronicles.

Keep tuned...spring is on the way. meg

February 2016

2.10.2016

Still more or less an open winter with spotty snowfalls in the Champlain Valley. Some cold air on the way to take us below zero.

We are now on the shorter side of winter. The daylight hours changing subtly at first, then all at once you notice. The snow that is lacking reminds me of how reflective snow is. South of here, blizzards and hurricanes. Guess it's nice for us to have a break.

The election timeline is fascinating, for a few seconds. Then it falls into a monotony. The major media outlets rake in the dough...strange that donations go to elect people. Or that a woman (Carly Fiorina) was excluded from the New Hampshire debate because of polls that in New Hampshire, are grossly inaccurate. Women were not outraged at Carly's being stifled or Sarah Palin being called dumb. There should be so surprise when Hilary is squashed like in 2008.

Enough for now. Healing with Knight Salve #5, probiotics, sunshine.

January 2016

01.21.16

Every winter in Vermont is tough, just for different reasons. This year we were not hardened off, so to speak. All of the sudden it got cold, over and over. Eek. Finally got to this chore. The town as relates to me, We sent in forms for absentee ballots. Why do we have to do this every year? I am still experimenting with salves, and other healing regimens. Time is the factor we surely cannot control. Today, breaks of sunlight is warm in a south window.We fight the pipeline, the state brought a stacked deck to the public service board of Yes.

All for now.

December 2015

12.31.2015

Our unusually mild weather has turned to more typical cold, rain and snow.

The last day of 2015 finds me upright and breathing. Skin in the healing mode, aided by salves and soaps I have put together. Avoiding the mainstream products when I can.

We had a low keyed Christmas. Turning in early for New Year's. Hope everyone is safe tonight. Tomorrow is 2016.

That is an interesting number, isn't it? meg

12.7.2015

The Sun is lower in the sky, air is colder. We are enjoying the warmer December. There will be colder days ahead. Have been blogging, tweeting, and attempted to get my Samsung phone to coordinate with clouds, kindles, PC's and a rusty brain.

News came hard that a friend, my blogger mentor, Herrad Ford had passed away after an illness. Please say a prayer for her husband who is hurting right now. I am working on a tribute post. It will come to me when it is good and ready. Sleep helps with expression. Does that make sense? I am tired. Done for the day. Well, done except for watching Scorpion and NCIS-LA, 2 of my favorite shows right now.

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

“For each thorn, there's a rosebud...for each twilight — a dawn... for each trial — the strength to carry on,For each stormcloud — a rainbow... for each shadow — the sun... foreach parting — sweet memories when sorrow is done.”

Quotes

Not sure where I found these."Suppose there are no hypothetical situations.""When your horse dies, get off."my lawyer haiku:"Lawyering,Back and forth they go,Poor folks suffer, losing time,Property all gone."

Gadget

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Quotes

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear -- not absence of fear."--Mark Twain, 19th-century American writer

“Security is mostly a superstition. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outrightexposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”--Helen Keller, 20th-century American writer, lecturer, advocate

"The vision of justice is an eternal long march to the Promised Land of the good life for all.” Justin Dart, Jr.

Wisdom of Kahlil Gibran

"Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love."

Fear

"There is the fear that we shan't prove worthy in the eyes of someone who knows us at least as well as we know ourselves. That is the fear of God. And there is the fear of Man --fear that men won't understand us and we shall be cut of from them."
Robert Frost

Folks

In winter's tedious nights, sit by the fire With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Quote(s) of the Millenium

"Man, like a tree in the cleft of a rock, gradually shapes his roots to his surroundings, and when the roots have grown to a certain size, can't be displaced without cutting at his life." Oliver Wendell Holmes"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Ready for Garth Hudson..from Levon Helm Studios twitter feed...

Music Links: Levon Helm Website & has the Midnight Ramble schedule

Official Blog of Mary E. Gerdt

for my content, all rights reserved 2009, 2010,2011,2012 ...

for links and other people's stuff, i will note that.

this blog is not profitable and content posted is

for the viewer's enjoyment.

Welcome

and feel free to move about the cabin. The ride may be bumpy. Some of this stuff is mine. Some stuff is other people's links-please read & enjoy, I work for free. Please do not rip off anything and sell it. Please do buy people's music listed here to support their music. If you do not want something posted here please tell me. Have a great day in the blogosphere. Mary